Television camera mounted text prompters, commonly known as teleprompters, have been in use nearly since the advent of television. They enable on-camera talent to look directly into the hens of the camera and read a prepared script text that is generated by a computer software program that allows scrolling up of the text so the reader can keep up with the up-corning text as she reads aloud. The reader sees the text reflected from a two-way mirror and the audience can only sees the scene being shot by the camera through the mirror.
All such prompters evolved from the days of cathode ray TV tube displays. As a result, they were heavy off-camera devices that had to be mounted below the front of the camera on a “sled” between the camera and the camera pan and tilt head, which is then mounted on a tripod. Typically these prompters were heavy and time-consuming to mount and operate. Usually it takes a minimum of 30 minutes to set-up, align, balance and trim and connect to a personal computer.
With the availability of small size, low-cost and lightweight LCD displays; it is now possible to design and build a prompter that is lightweight, mounts in a more industry standard manner and is very quick to mount, set-up and use.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple, lightweight, compact yet effective prompting system that enables a speaker to look directing into a camera's lens which is hidden behind a prompting mirror and invisible to the speaker, and at the same time read the textual or other information shown on the prompting mirror, and that can be easily coupled with a video camera or a camcorder which has an accessory adapter shoe on its top.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a prompting apparatus with a shrouded chamber immediately behind an inclined prompting mirror and the camera's lens is positioned in the chamber a id behind the mirror such that unwanted light is blocked from entering the camera's lens and the best quality of the recorded images by the camera can be reached.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a prompting apparatus with a flat display screen facing down to the prompting mirror, which is positioned at a 45 degree angle to the flat display screen, such that unwanted light from the light sources above the apparatus can be blocked from directly shining on the display screen.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a prompting apparatus with a housing in which the flat display screen is positioned as a ceiling facing down to the prompting mirror, which is positioned at a 45 degree angle to the flat display screen, such that the interference on the display screen and the prompting mirror caused by unwanted light is minimized and the clarity of the images on the prompting mirror viewed by the speaker is maximized.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a mounting and adjustment assembly which enables a user to couple the prompting apparatus to a video camera or a camcorder which has an accessory adapter shoe on its top.